Exertion Score

What is the Exertion Score

The exertion score is a dynamic numerical indicator used to quantify the total load on your cardiovascular system throughout the day, reflecting the overall level of fatigue. This load includes not only deliberate exercise but also all activities in daily life, such as walking, climbing stairs, or moments when stressful work makes your heart beat faster.

How to Interpret the Exertion Score

The exertion score can help you personalize your training plan to optimize performance and aid recovery. For example, a triathlete during a competition cycle can refer to the exertion score data to ensure their daily training load is appropriate, avoiding undertraining or overtraining. If the exertion score is too high after a day's training, the athlete should schedule some low-intensity aerobic activities to promote recovery; if the exertion score is too low, they can increase the training volume accordingly.

Note:

The exertion score is based on the cardiovascular load to assess the body's fatigue level. If your training is primarily strength-based, the exertion score may underestimate your effort during training. This is because strength training involves higher muscle load with lower heart rate changes. In such cases, we recommend using the recovery score indicator to guide training.

Factors Affecting the Exertion Score

The exertion score is calculated based on two core physiological parameters: an individual's maximum heart rate and the accumulated time spent in different heart rate zones. PeakWatch uses the highest recorded heart rate over the past 30 days as the maximum heart rate.